Thursday, July 31, 2008

Similar in nature to the previous Ogres are today's Trolls. (Depending on your fantasy source, Trolls are either big, fierce and nasty creatures or they're justrepulsive little goblins.) Actually, in Guardians terms Ogres and Trolls have little in common. Ogres are Mortals, Trolls are Externals. Ogres works together and have many common themes. Trolls are just . . . there.

There are five Trolls (four from Dagger Isle, one from Drifters Nexus): Greated Horned, Grotto, Lowland, Valley and Woodland. Their vitalities are low, ranging from 3 to 8. Four are bribable (oneGold, two Babes and one Beer), none have terrain bonuses (though one gives bonuses in Rivers & Lakes). Two are command cards. All have special abilities, but no two are the same or even similar in nature. There's nothing to build on as a creature class.

Individually, they can aid different types of decks. But the best that I could do with pairing them is as follows: imagine a shield containing a Grotto Troll, Lowland Troll, Woodland Troll and either 2 Water Nymphsor 1 Water Nymph and 2 Wild Nymphs, all sitting on Rivers & Lakes.

Troll/Nymph decks are possible, and they would be great if there was a Woods/River & Lakes combo location terrain. (They might even move onto "Phenomenal" in that case, actually, because the bonuses start adding up). But since that Water Forest doesn't exist, you're betteroff with creatures with River & Lakes bonuses and hoping for the Water Nymph/Woodland Troll combo to pop up, or go with Woods and Woodland Trolls and take the other Nymphs.

Summary: Trolls don't work well as a deck themselves, but they can support other creatures, particularly Nymphs.

C. J. BurkeKeeper of the Flame

For Whom the Bell Trolls, Spell, Up 8.Play on any Troll in current match-up. That Troll and its opponent become unchallenged Creatures in melee.

My family and I are going on vacation next week. If I have time today during my lunch hour, I'll queue up some more files, but today is definitely the last day I'll be updating this page for the next couple of weeks.

So if you don't see any new posts, it's not because I gave up already but because I'm busy.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I was going to save Ogres for a while since they're one of the more obvious deck concepts based on class. But since a deck using Ogres was posted to the mailing list, let's go for it now.

There are five Ogres, with vitalities ranging from 8 to 13: Ice Ogre, Polar Ice Ogre, Great Fanged Ogre, Ancient Ogre and Tree Ogre. (That last one is from Drifters Nexus). All are large non-flying Mortals, bribable by Babes. None can be channelled against. Additionally, the Ancient Ogre prevents your opponent from channeling for the rest of combat. (Normally, secondary attackers can accept channeling against Ogres.)

Ogres are also Vitality boosters: Great Fanged boosts other ogres; Ice and Polar Ice are +2 in Mountains; Tree is +4 in Woods.

Putting all this together, your supporting cards should be of two or three varieties: anti-channeling, anit-Babes bribery, and to a lesser extent, Mountain bonus cards.

Choice of terrain:

If you can get them, Rocks of Rhuadan, from Necropolis Park. They are a combo Mountains/Dry Heaps with the following restriction: only Guardians can channel and at -3 CMP. Your opponent can only channel against your non-ogres or as secondaries. This further restricts him. You can get around the -3 by playing a Channeling Flux.

S.S. House of Babes, from Drifters Nexus. No bribery by Babes. The downside is that you none of your creatures get bonuses in Rivers and Lakes.

Spirit Mountain. Huh? Why? Because of one of my choices of secondary classes.

Other creatures:

Ogres can make up the bulk of a deck, but there Vitality numbers don't lend themselves to easy stacking under Shields. You'll need some supporting creatures. The choice you make depends upon whether you want a dedicated anti-channeling deck or a dual-class deck that attacks on two fronts.

In either case, the first cards you want to add are Ugly Wart Fiends (to prevent bribery) and Shadow Panty Raids (ditto).

If you don't want any channeling at all, then consider adding Energy Leech, Monolith of Power and Siin as your Guardian. (And skip Louie, you won't have need for him and as a channel receiver, you'll be tempted to channel to him.)

If you choose the Lorg Mole and Moon Spirit, you may want to add a few more Demons & Devils or Spirits, but don't try adding both classes. Ugh!

For Spirits: Add Ice Spirits and Moon Daughters. Both get bonuses in mountains and can be channeled to in Spirit Mountain. (See, I'm not *totally* insane.) Medicine Man is the Yandrax for Spirits. Arwyddyn is another possibility if you choose not to channel much and want something else to do with your stones. Koset of the Light is a little counter-productive. Stinking Spirit prevents little guys from ganging up on your Ogres, but be careful -- it works on *your* creatures, too!

Summary: I've got to put one of these together. Just writing up the possibilites has got me thinking about it. Ogres are a strong class to build a deck around. And either dual-class or all-out anti-channeling are good strategies for them.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Okay, I'll admit it. When you think of Guardians creature classes, Varmit is not the first thing to come to mind. Not even in the top ten. But, hey, let's be unconventional.

I'm not exactly sure what a "varmit" is, except, perhaps, a "varmint" with a southern accent. Varmints are, generally, animals and birds that are pests or vermin or other rodents not covered by gaming laws.

Rascally pests are exactly what three Varmits are (and to be charitable, I'll add a fourth, read on).

The Pesky Varmit has Vit 3 but get a plus 3 bonus against Medium-sized creatures. If you just play the Limited/Revised edition, you'll get that bonus nearly half the time (randomly speaking). That's a heck of a plus. Almost all Knights and Pirates, most Undead and most Slag Beasts are Medium-sized, so you have a head start against many theme decks.

The Varmit Archer is only a 1-point ranged attack, but that's all it takes to win what otherwise would be a push. And at a pitiful Vitality 2, he's easy to stack.

If the Sneaky Varmit survives its primary match-up, your opponent must discard one random card from his Creature Pen. There goes that terrain card he was saving. Or that creature you just Bribed.

Finally, another pest even if he's an Animal, is the Sales Weasel, who is Vitality 4 but becomes Vitality 10 if your opponent doesn't spend a stone. It's better than spending a Stone and a Power Lunch. (And if there's ever a third edition, I'd like to see him reclassified -- if he makes the cut.)

(Note: I don't know if I wrote that before or after finding out that FPG went out of the gaming business.)

These pests are just too cool.

On the downside, as a class, they're limited by the fact that there are only four of them and they don't help each other. But they don't hurt each other either. Two of them have a good bump in their own Vitality, two of them can cost your opponent resources (cards or stones). And since they're low numbers, they go with anything.

Extra card to use:Mocodabi, a flying Saurian from Necropolis Park. He forces discard of a Medium-sized creature. That narrows it down a little for your Pesky Varmit. (Okay, it's a stretch, but I'm looking for a common theme. There aren't many.)

Iron Crag Bagglers, Bogglers and Bugglers: Yes, they're fairies and fairy decks are common enough. But these guys (and when I see them I think "Time to make the donuts!") are as annoying as the Varmits are. Dispel command cards, prevent ranged attacks (when shooting some of your own) and force Item discard.

Summary: Great annoyance characters, but remove the Pesky Varmits as soon as you see Tookle. And the archers aren't likely to be needed with your Giants, but you never know.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Necropolis Park

Many of the references actually refer to Egyptian mythology (Sethos, Isis, Osirus, Horus, Imhotep, Djoser, etc.). And one of the Field Marshals or Supreme Leaders has an altered Nazi flag, but I don't know which one unless I find a copy.

Barrow Downs -- Is this where the Barrow Wight lives? Downs are usually treeless, so they should not be considered Woods. Also, "Barrow Downs" is the name of a location in The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring.

Dead Cats -- There's an expression about "not enough room to swing a dead cat". Cats were worshipped in ancient Egypt, so as long as the game has a lot of dead Egyptians, it should have a bunch of dead cats. Also, the dog reminds me of one of the Disney cartoon dogs.

Djoser -- Djoser was King during Third Dynasty (c. 2800 BC).

Doogop the Greedy -- Bribable by babes and gold, but visually, he's supplied his own beer. I'm not sure how many (or which) deadly sins he's committing.

Dork Age -- A takeoff of FPG's own Dark Age card game, along with a picture of Alfred E. Neuman of Mad Magazine fame.

Judge Dredge -- "Judge Dredd" is not even a Marvel character, let alone a memeber of the X-Men. He doesn't normally carry a plunger but otherwise it's a good likeness. (I'm suprised they weren't sued over that one.)

Sebek, Queen of Magicians -- Egyptian crocodile god, associated with Re and Seth. But in mythology, Sebek was a guy.

Sethos Sethos was the god of thunder, storms and the desert as well as the brother of Isis and Osirus. He murdered Osirus.

Scamp Jones -- Is it just me, or is this Joe Camel in New Orleans?

Silver Server -- Silver Surfer, herald of Galactus. Flies through outer space (which could be considered terrainless). Not a member of the X-Men.

Squibby -- Squib: a small firecracker, one that burns but does not explode; a witty speech or lampoon, or a filler article. Harry Potter fans might know the term "squib" to mean the non-magical offspring of wizards.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Drifters Nexus

Once again, Drifters Nexus contains lots of creatures with specific names. There is no way to know which of these are in-jokes, except to recognize them or be "in on the joke".

In general, O-Men is a take-off of Marvel ComicsUncanny X-Men, even though not all of the characters parodied are actually X-Men. X and O are the opposite sides in Tic-Tac-Toe. They are also the letters used to represent "kisses" and "hugs", respectively.

Gob refers to the mouth. All of the Gob creatures feature very prominent mouths.

Bagpipes of Fear -- Why would anyone fear bagpipes? Well, maybe because of the infernal racket they make.

Black Locust -- Note that the class is "Tragic". It's a reference to Magic: the Gathering's Black Lotus card. It's also a dig at how much money Wizards of the Coast had and the fact that they could outbid any other gaming company (at the time).

Delilah Rangoon -- I am amazed at the number of hits for "Delilah Rangoon" on search engines. Most of them have to do with horses, ethnic food, bars & clubs, and movies. Oh, yeah, and card listings. The most infamous "Delilah" cut Samson's hair and made him powerless.

The model for Delilah Rangoon went on to become Playboy's Miss December 1999.

Disgruntled Postal Worker -- Great graphic. It's the very definition of "going postal".

Golden Fleecer -- Jason stole the Golden Fleece. A fleecer swindles people (in this case out of their destructionability). According to Dave Gentzler, Brom painted Keith Parkinson's portrait (returning the favor for Smilin' Jack).

Golfer -- The group of cards, Caddy/Gopher/Golfer, is just a silly combo. This could be a Caddyshack reference.

Gopher -- The group of cards, Caddy/Gopher/Golfer, is just a silly combo. Why is Gopher dressed like Napolean? Is it because he's conquering a golf course? This could be a Caddyshack reference.

Lizards on the Toast -- Double pun: Wizards of the Coast has so much money that they probably are "on the toast" of the town. (Whether or not they're lizards is a different debate altogether.)

Longshot Louie -- This one could be a total co-incidence but in the SF novel Ringworld, Louie is the navigator of the ship the Longshot. The visual shows a creature with a sextant (for navigation) and there are stars visable.

Phil, Bar Fly -- "Bar flies" are usually people, not bugs. Apparently, artist Phil Foglio is also a barfly, and this card is based on him, and done in his style. (Foglio is not one of the Guardians artists.)

Tanniker Smith -- I'd love to track this one down. It sounds like something out of pulp SF, perhaps E. E. Doc Smith. Anyone?(Note: Obviously, I like the name because I've usurped it and have been using it for over 10 years now. It was even my badge name at Lunacon once.)

The Maitz Motel -- Maitz is the card's artist as opposed to Bates Motel from the movie Psycho.

Tiger Baloo -- The most obvious reference is to "Cat Baloo". In Disney's "The Jungle Book" (and possibly Kipling's version as well), Baloo was a bear. Shere Khan was the tiger. This card predates Tiger Woods raise to fame in the golf world (so no bonus for Woods. Or Irons.)

Tree Ogre -- Bears a lot of resemblance to the Ploog's Polar Ice Ogre, doesn't it? The wrong sketch was sent to Shaw. The mistake wasn't discovered until too late. [DG]

You Can't See Me, I'm a Vampire -- Bradstreet, the artist that did this card, worked on Vampire: the Masquerade. And the kid's looking right at him. Dave Gentzler had an interesting commentary on it regarding LARPS Vampire players at cons. When I find a copy of it, I'll post it here.

Reverend Smilin' Jack -- Guide to the Mid-Realms suggests that the artwork was inspired by Brom.

Rouge Specter -- "Rogue" is a dishonest person; "rouge" is red makeup. The misspelling was accidental. It was supposed to be "Rogue" even though it is wearing a red cape. I had correspondence with Dave Gentzler who told me that it was actually named by a playtester who had won a tournament. Unfortunately, the guy misspelled it, and no one caught it.

Schneeble -- "Schnee" is german for "snow", but I don't see any connection there, other than it sounded nice

Seer -- Visual: maybe this is unintentional, but the copyright information is inside the crystal ball, which has the effect of making it look like a Magic 8-Ball. Either that, or the seer is trying to find out the numbers for the lottery. (Either 950 or 056.)

Snibs Bony Ridged -- Visually similar to Bungee Bony Ridged, but not a contiguous image.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Many years back, I developed a concordance of in-jokes, bad puns and other references in FPG's Guardians CCG. And some time later, I posted it on usenet and later on my old webpage.

It isn't totally complete, obviously, because I wasn't on the team that put them there in the first place. However, I found a lot of them and I've been contaced by Dave Gentzler about a couple of them.

Most entries are based on the names of the cards and their abilities, but there are some visual references. One of these days when I have time to sit down and look at each individual card, I may be able to add more of these visual gags. Artists were given much latitude in their illustrations, so there probably are more that I missed.

Suggestions and additions are welcome.

I've divided them into four categories: one for the main set and one for each of the supplements: * Limited/Revised Edition * Dagger Isle * Drifters Nexus * Necropolis Park

Each of these will be handled in its own entry over the next four days.

Add any corrections or additions onto any of these threads and I'll update the entire list at a later date.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Christopher's Creature Class critique #3: Giants.

Since in the previous 'critter critique' I mentioned that Giant and Ogres needed entries of their own, I might as well do one of them today. I decided to go with the big guys.

Giants come in even-numbered Vitalities from 4 to 18 (excluding only, for some reason, 6). So it's conceivable that you can stack 3 or 4 of them under one shield. The problem is that you need to stack guys that work together, which isn't as easy.

There are 10 Giants, not including the Giant Penguin, and one Item that can only be used by Giants, the Rock of Far Rolling. Even though the Penguin isn't a "giant", I've included it in the discussion below. (And remember: whenever you play it, use your best Monty Python falsetto and announce, "It looks like a penguin.")

Common links:

Six Giants have OCB of at least 1/3 of their Vitality. Two have Mountain bonuses, one has Dry Heaps and the Penguin has Rivers and Lakes. Also, the River Giant is immune to Elementals in R&L. Two have killer ranged attacks, but don't use them unless you know your opponent has only one primary attacker or you have an Eye of Missile Mayhem. (Watch out for Bone Frights!) And the Giant Shaman (Vitality 4) makes Giants channel receivers.

Looks like it's time to go for the Guardian kill -- if not, destroy the strongholds instead. Rock Spirits are nice, but you probably won't have room for them. Consider instead packing a couple of Anvils of Heaviness. You'll have a bonus to attack the stronghold and they won't have any to defend!

Weak link: The Caddy is a joke card, a dangerous joke (he's an 18 with an OCB of 9!), but a joke nonetheless. He's special ability is "kills Gopher". Ha ha. Funny. I get it. A Caddyshack reference. However, that one stupid sentence leaves the Caddy open to destruction by a Golden Fleecer. Not funny. Another weak link is the the vulnerability to the Golfer -- but only if your opponent has been able to find some packs of Drifter's Nexus!

Okay, let's get down to business. What should you stack with your Giants so that they'll fit in a Shield and fill it out completely.

Locals: Duh! Unless you want Rik' Sook to supplement your Giant Shaman, you don't have any Giant command cards. Go with some Locals, Rye Beaner or Scamp Jones, to allow a little more room in the Shield. You don't have to worry about that self-immolating AOE, that's for sure.

Idiots: Makes a 3-creature shield a 4-creature shield and draws off one secondary attacker from your Giants. In this deck, that's important!

Shadow Giants: (This was almost the humorous creature name on the bottom of the post.)

If you're going for the Strongholds, then the Shadow Brotherhood are your boys. Let them ride in on the shoulders of Giant Aunts (Hey, there's a pun in there, somewhere). The Thief of Shadow and the Red Master of Shadow have nice text boxes if they survive over a non-rubbled stronghold. If you played an Anvil of Heaviness, that's a little more likely to happen. Also, you can use that Embyronic Witch/Djinn combo, too. IMPORTANT: Use them *before* your Giant Aunts rubble the Stronghold!

Small Demons & Devils

You'll need a Vestibule of Kabod, but if you have one you can put a Small Demon or Devil in your Shield that doesn't count toward the Shield Limit. This is good in any deck, but again, a Giant deck needs all the help it can get. Some possibilities: Doogoop the Greedy (gives each of your Giants, except the Aunts, a bribery bonus),Drizzle Bone the Hack (highest small Devil vitality, 8), or Kazarian Squawker (command card that accepts opponent's command card). Unfortunately, D&D do not provide anything toward your goal except as a possibly free creature fodder.

Summary: Giants are nasty creatures ready to pound, but there sheer size is actually a detriment, making it hard to fill out a Shield. Unlike other classes that can only serve a secondary role, Giants can easily serve as the primary class BUT they need supporting creatures (or a class of creatures) to fill out their shields for the attack.

And watch out: They may be big BUT Giants will get stomped by Titans.

Note: When this was first written, the Titans were not an NFL football team. Now it sounds like a prediction of the outcome of a game.)C. J. Burke, Keeper of the Flame

Monday, July 21, 2008

Rating the Rares

This message was previously posted on Usenet. Part 1 was reposted last week.

The rest: Rare-2 and Rare-3

Ancient Ogre: All ogres have immunity to channeling. But for most of them it goes away after the primary attacks. Not so with the Ancient Ogre. Your opponent is prevented from channeling for the rest of combat! Great card.

Captain Red Nose: On the surface, he looks like a great card, but he's very limited. With a vitality of 15, he takes up half the shield, and you're not getting too many more Pirates in there. Works great if you have Pauly, Official Parrot, or Warwick's Conversions to convert small things into Pirates, or even a Soul Mirror and a lot of small creatures. In a starter, he's just another pirate. Okay card.

Cow: Another card that's played for laughs. A 3-point AOE isn't going to take out a lot, though you never know. A better bet is the Uncommon Stinking Spirit, which does the same thing, but with up to 4 point creatures. (Warning: Stinking Spirit affects you as well.) The best use for Cows is to be detonated by Farmer Brown. Joke card.

Gn'Olegable Gnomes: For 5 points, giving each creature +2 is very nice -- especially if you have more than three small creatures. The only drawback: the Grand Phooba Schnee's +1, +2, +3 ability works for every creature, and blows the Gnomes away by comparison. Good card.

Gringe Commander: "This ability cannot be disspelled." Right there it becomes a quality card. And the ability? +3 to your Slag Beasts. Suddenly, Squibby and Groatie aren't so bad. And in the Dry Heaps, these creatures have great bonuses anyway. To top it off, there are enough Slags around that you'll find some in a starter deck to work with Gringe. Cool artwork, too. Great card.

Idiot: He has his uses, but not many of them. Idiots are nice in the opening draw, when you have a lot of other creatures. Then you can use one to draw off an opponent's attack as a one-shot nothing. But late in the game, when you need creatures to save a bad game, you do NOT want to see this one coming into your hand. Okay card.

Paladin: First of all, here's another card that Archangel Odessa should be able to channel to, but that complicates things. Here's a Captain Red Nose for Knights EXCEPT he's not bribeable, he's a little smaller, there are more knights to benefit from his bonus, the Horse give HIM a bonus, and last but not least, he gives your Mortals immunity to fear! Play with Soooooooul Mirror. Great card.

Party Animal: Funny art, but the joke wears off right away. Throw it out there and see if it survives. Not likely to do much. Doesn't suck.

Pauly, Official Parrot: If you have a bunch of Pirates, then Pauly is hard to kill off, and his ability is okay, too. In a starter, he's less useful. Good card.

Ploogak the Conqueror: (As well as the "Couqueror") A must for a Slag Beast deck. You need to win the battle for your Slag Bunny to heal a slag beast. Ploogak helps take control of the space. If he lives long enough. Good card.

Reverend Smilin' Jack: Jack is a one-man schtick. Place a large creature, like a Watcher, face down. Next turn, spring it on your opponent. Watch out for Hammer of Doom. Good card.

Shadow Warrior: Nine points may be a lot to spend on a command card, but if you know what your opponent has in his shield already, and there's a beatable creature sitting on top of his deck, go for it. Card advantage is key to Guardians. If you don't have it, you're screwed. Great card.

Cherub: The Demon and Devil bonus is nice. Better than what the Archangels get (comparitively). And the immunity will frustrate your opponent. Best match-up opponent: Dreaded Doom Dog. Dog dies without doing any damage to Cherub. Very good card. (Not quite great.)

Corruption Stream: You can't beat a Corruption Stream. Literally. It wins as a secondary attacker, though I've had arguments whether that should be allowed against Guardians (according to the rules, yes, but should it?) Great card.

Darkness Elemental: Don't get me started on this one. A thirteen point command card that you discard if you use part of its ability. I don't think so. The only thing good about it is that you can then play Standard of the Elements for a 13-point ranged attack.

Death: It destroys almost every mortal that it comes up against, but will lose to those it doesn't destroy. (Thankfully, most of those knights are bribeable!). But it stacks very high. The only saving grace is the standard bearer that allows you to change border colors and, thus, make creatures Mortal and destroyable. Good card.

Earth Mother: Nice artwork. Channeling receiver. Works great in spirit decks. Not having to place a card is a great ability. Great card.

Energy Leach: Dispels command cards like the Boggler, but can stop channeling if played in a matchup. This is sometimes a Very Good ability to have, particularly if you can keep him alive by range attacking or bribing the opponent. Great card.

Fire Elemental: I'm a little leery of showing 14 points of my hand on the first matchup, but if I know that he's got a bunch of 4-pointers in his combat hand, you better believe it's coming out! If your opponent has a lot of little creatures floating around, don't expect your Fire Elemental to live long. Good card.

Light Elemental: Nothing too special. The ability is silly and leaves it open to destruction by the Golden Fleecer. Still it's a 13-point channelable flyer. That counts for something. Very good card.

Mist Veiler: A couple of these and your opponent is screwed. Many battles are won by carefully selecting your secondary attacks and picking off the right creatures. But you can't pick these off. Play them in the Woods with no ranged-attacks and your opponent will be very limited in his options. Great card.

Spirit of the Forge: An Elemental Master Gunner, except that he's an unbribeable Spirit. With Traithes (from Necropolis Park) he's almost useless. However, if NP isn't available, he's not too bad. Good card.

Thunder Hawk: One of the best surprises in the game. Sock someone for a great ranged attack. And it's possible to save your Hawk as it is "lost" in combat. Great card.

Arms of the Earth: For six points, you get a shot to pull your opponent's Earth Elemental out of his hand. Whatever you get won't count toward victory conditions, so the bigger the beter. And if you know what he has in his hand, so much the better. Great card.

Black Unicorn: A 13-point unbribeable channeling receiver. Sure, it can't receive channeling from Grand Avatars, but otherwise a Great card.

Bone Shambler: Receives up to double vitality in channeling. The version with the off-color bonus is naturally better.

Crystal Flash: Great with Tookle (he's small) and Great in a starter deck.

Eternal Witch Lord: His channeling ability is pretty much useless. His other ability -- healing Undead -- rocks! Maybe not as good in a starter, but phenomenal if you can get your hands on Necropolis Park. Oh, and he can kill every Guardian single-handed. Great card.

King of Mystfall: There are enough common and uncommon faries to make this a good card in a starter deck, but with all the fairies available, it's a Great card in a constructed Fairy deck. Just watch out for Idiot Fiends. Great card.

Lake Serpent: Yet another creature that can kill a Guardian solo, and this one has an AOE, too. As with the Flame Elemental, I'm leery of using the AOE as my first attacker unless I *know* my opponent's hard. Hard to stack so that he'll live, but still Great card.

Phantom Stalker: Sucks in a starter deck, because his ability is useless. Even in a constructed Undead deck, I've never seen his ability actually used. Okay creature.

Rik' Sook: Rik Rocks! For a five-point command card, you can channel to every creature in the matchup. A reusable Power Lunch. A portable Spirit Mountain that works for everyone. Kills in a starter. Overall, a Great card.

Shadow of Ashes: One of the few cards that has a fire-based attack, but isn't immune to fire. Sun Spirits kick their butt. Nothing special. Okay.

Slippery Slime: Play your big guy first, let him pull out the ranged attacks, then swap it with the Slime and you got your big guy back. Great card.

Valkyrie Spirit: Her 3 points of channeling vs 7 stacking is better than most. She channels to knights that don't accept channeling. And with Warwick's Conversion or Soul Mirror you can make lots of knights. Great in a starter (lots of common/uncommon knights), Great in a constructed Knight deck.

Vampire Lord: Disappointing. His Vitality bonus is useless since he's a 12, Vampires are 9, and there aren't any other "vampires" in the game. "Vampire" isn't even a Class, it's a creature. And what creature is it going to beat that has accepted channeling? Disappointing.

Winterseed's Maiden: Okay card. Nothing special.

Wraith: Another card that can receive twice its Vitality in channeling. The fact that it can strike as a 24 when it stacks as an 8 is even better! Great card.

Haba Naba Daba: Considering that AOEs are usually played first, Haba is a good defense card, but overall goblins are a weak bunch. Good card.

Sorcerer: Expensive to use. But if you know what your opponent has, it can be a killer card. Good card.

Energy Well: Sucks in a starter because it's very likely that you won't have any channel-receiving Elementals in your deck. Otherwise, it's better than average. Good card.

Grim Skull: A six-point ranged attacker that stacks as a four. It you have any channelers, this is the card to use with it. Good card.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Creature Class critique #2: Angels.

Being the good citizen I am, I want to make an Angel deck. Too bad Angel decks bite the big one.

Without an expansion feeding them, Demons and Devils can take over the game almost as badly as Undead can. Angels, by contrast, are left in the dust.

There are only nine angels: Angel, Trumpeter, Cherub, Archangel Magnus, Archangel Odessa, Holy Avenger, Angel of Death, Guardian Angel and Angel of Righteousness. Plus there's the Cleric (who is a Wizard) and Paladin (who is a Knight).

If they worked together, nine would be enough, but their limits are crippling.

My first complaint is about the creature Angel: it can't accept channeling without a Power Lunch, yet lowly Clerics can. This, in my opinion, is one of the greatest mistakes of the game and the thing that cripples Angels as a class the most.

My second complaint is about their bonuses:

Archangel Magnus gets +9 against Demons and Devils. Astounding. Until you realize that a little Cherub gets +6, which *triples* its Vitality. On top of that, the biggest angel of the bunch can't beat either Bealzebub or Old Nick if all the creatures channel. (Magnus takes Nick, however, if no channeling is allowed.)

Next complaint:

Archangel Odessa : On the plus side, I love the artwork. But her ability? She channels to Clerics and Angels. "Cleric" is a particular creature. "Angel" is both a creature and a creature class. We can assume that the text applies to the class because the creature "Angel" cannot accept channeling. But to compound this problem, she cannot channel to *all* Angels, only to the ones that normally receive channeling. And on top of that, the channel receivers are all Uncommon or Rare! Ugh!

And that doesn't even address the issue of channeling to the Paladin, who is a holy fighter. (At least he can receive power from a Valkyrie Spirit, though that seems almost "pagan". No offense to anyone, best word I could find.)

Final complaint: off-color bonuses

True, there are a lot of Demons and Devils, so there's a good chance you can get a healthy bonus if you fight a deck built with them. Unfortunately, the Angels don't have anything else going for them. Most have OCB of 0 or 1, so they can't even fight back against Undead very well. If the game is ever re-released, I wouldn't mind seeing their OCB bumped up a couple of points to give them an added usefulness.

Okay. Complaining is easy, let's get to the good stuff.

All angels fly, which is a good thing, except that only three of three would survive an Ice Storm, so watch out. Most have Vitality bonueses, but only against Demons & Devils. The Angel of Righteousness have a bonus based on bribery icons and most D&D have at least one plus, it works nicely on other creatures.

The Trumpeter is cool. For a 2-pt. command card, you can find out if your opponent is about to spring a Lawyer on you. And against a D&D deck, you might force your opponent to reveal his entire hand.

The Guardian Angel is a reusable, but expensive, Holy Grail. Ironically, the best card to team with this one is Sacrificial Altar. Get rid of the dead wood so that you can keep the good ones alive.

And one other way to get stones is to call on that Angel of Death. He'll give you stones, but not many. After all, he's taking up nearly half the shield as it is, but you should be able to win at least one more battle.

So what's a good primary class?

Naturally, Knights come to mind. Why? Because of the Holy Avenger/Paladin connection. Because of the Cleric heals Mortals connection. Because of the Knight/St. Ballentine's Evocation connection (okay, that one has nothing to do with Angels, but it sounds "holy", doesn't it?). Knight provide a nice OCB against Elementals, so they're effective D&D killers themselves. There is also one flying Knight.

Pirates have a couple of good elemental bashers, and provide some ranged attacks, which Angels lack. But they are highly bribable. Still, it's interesting psychologically to see the two teamed in a Guardians version of St. Elmo's Fire.

Sermon on the Mount?

Nice name, but will it work? Two good primary classes with some bonuses in Mountains are Giants and Ogres. There are more Giants than Ogres and their range of Vitality is greater, but is heavier, naturally, on the higher end. Most Angels are lower Vitality, so they could round out a Shield. Angels could compliment Ogres so the same reason.

I won't get into too much detail on Giants and Ogres because they each merit a "Critter critique" of their own (as it is, I chopped out a few paragraphs from *this* post because they were getting off track.

Summary: Angels are good (naturally), but they're not good enough. They make a nice supporting class, but couldn't survive as the main thrust of the deck. They're nice to have for defeating nuisance cards like the Lawyer, but they're too narrowly defined for general use.

C. J. Burke, Keeper of the Flame

Avenging Angel: Same as "Angel" card, all stats and artwork, except that it accepts channeling.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Guardians is a great Collectible Card Game formerly produced by FPG, Inc. The game is no longer supported, except by fans who have played the games since its inception or since picking up discounted cards.

One problem with picking up discounted cards: if you can't find a starter deck, you don't have the rules. (There are other things you may not have either, but the rules are the most important.)

This is an effort to correct that problem. What follows are a quick set of rules for playing the game. They get more complex as the go along. All that is listed is what you *can* do, not what you *should* do. For playing tips, go elsewhere.

GUARDIANS RULESpart 4 of 4(version 0.2)

COMBAT RESOLUTION

After Combat has ended, you must determine who won.

The attacker discards his beaten creatures and gathers together his remaining creatures. The defender does the same. Each player than adds the total Vitality of his creatures -- NOT THE STACKING VITALITY! Don't use the red penalty number, if the creature has one. Also, creatures who did no damage due to immunity (e.g., a Sun Spirit does know damage do a Devil Dog) DO count for control of the space.

The only exceptions are creatures who were bribed (there not on the space anymore, even if they did technically survive) and creatures that, for whatever reason (Spell, command card, etc.) are out of play and don't count for control of the space.

If the attacking Shield has more Vitality than the defender, it wins control of the Space and the defender must retreat his Shield (even if already turned) one Space in any direction, as long as it lands on a space under that player's control. He may retreat to a space that has another of his shields on it, but if he does so, one shield is discarded (this counts for the opponent's goal) and creatures are also discarded so that it is under the 30 point limit. If either of the two Shields involved were turned, the remaining shield is turned.

If the defending shield has the same Vitality as the attacker or more, that shield retains control of the space and the attacker retreats. The attacker MUST retreat one space in the direction it came in even if it traveled TWO spaces before combat, even if it has a shield there already (combine Shields as above).

The loser in combat has the choice to destroy the entire Shield and all creatures within it (this counts for opponent's goal) -- this may be prudent if a weak turned Shield would be forced to retreat onto one of its own unturned Shields. By discarded the entire Shield, the remaining Shield can turn and attack its opponent (which may or may not have been weakened from the prior fight.)

If the loser CANNOT retreat because it has no space under its control to retreat to, the Shield is automatically destroyed.

Examples: Allen flies over one of Bob's Shield to attack Bob's second Shield. If Allen wins, Bob must retreat one space in any direction to space under his control. He may, if he wishes, to retreat into the space that has the other Shield. If he does that, one Shield is discarded and Bob can only keep up to 30 points worth of creatures. The remaining Shield is turned if either of his two Shields had been turned before the combat.

If Bob wins the combat, Allen must move back one space in the direction he came even though he originally travelled two. HOWEVER, the space is occupied by Bob's other shield. Therefore, Allen's shield is destroyed.

HEALING

The most important rule in healing creatures is that only the winner can heal creatures. The retreating Shield is considered to left their fallen comrades behind. (Demon Hordes of Kabod are an explicit exception to the rule; card text always overrides the rulebook.)

The second rule to remember is that you cannot use a creature that you just healed to heal a second creature. (For example, if you had five Demon Hordes of Kabod and three died, the two survivors can only heal two others. The fifth one is lost.)

Obviously, healed creatures DO NOT count toward control of the space becuase you have to have control of the space to heal creatures.

TERRAIN SETTLEMENT PHASE

After all Shields have been turned and all movement completed, the final phase occurs: the Terrain Settlement Phase.

First, if your opponent has no Shields in the Disputed Lands and all the lands either have one of your Shields or one of your terrain on them (or are under your control by default), CONGRATULATIONS! you won.

Otherwise . . .

For each of your Terrain cards in the Disputed Land area that has one of your opponent's Shields sitting on it: remove your Terrain card. Your opponent does the same for your Shields. This represents the terrain changing hands.

Next, for each of your Shields that is sitting on a disputed land space that has no terrain card, you must play a terrain card from your hand. If you do not have a Terrain card to play, you may spend a stone and place any card from your Storage Hand or Creature Pen face-down in the terrain space, with the word "Guardians" facing you to indicate that it is your card. This face-down card is not considered to be any of the basic terrain types.

If you don't have any cards to put down, or do not have stones to pay for a face-down card, or just choose not to play a Terrain card (you don't have to even if you have them), you can instead discard a creature from beneath the Shield. This creature is discarded -- it doesn't become a face-down terrain card; the space remains terrainless.

If you discard the last creature, the Shield is destroyed (this counts for your opponent's goal).

You CANNOT replace your own terrain card, unless you have some means of removing the existing one (such as a Hammer of Doom or Ancient Tome of Dispansation).

If you place a terrain card and your opponent plays Hammer of Doom before the end of the phase, you are required to play another card (or drop a creature).

THE TURN IS OVER, GO BACK TO THE DRAW & ORGANIZE PHASE

If no one has won, go back to the Draw & Organize phase. Take note of the number of lands under your control and under your opponent's control (include the ones that you control by default). If you control more than you opponent, add your MDL (most disputed lands) to the number of cards that you draw. If you have fewer, subtract your LDL (least disputed lands) from the number of cards that you draw. If you're tied, don't modify the number.

Next, whoever had the lower Up-card on the previous turn, draws extra cards equal to the LUC (low Up-card) bonus.

Your previous Up-card is the first card you draw, with the following exceptions: if your Guardian is Tes Let, you have the option to discard the Up card and start drawing with the next card (this is his ability and if printed on the card); if you are not entitled to draw any cards this turn, discard the Up-card and turn the next card as your Up-card.

If you run out of cards, you do NOT lose automatically (though it's pretty likely that you'll lose eventually). However, you cannot draw any more cards into your hand -- you have to play with what you have. Randomly draw a card from your discard pile as your Up-card.

Confused? That's normal. Try it out a few times and you'll get the hang of it.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Guardians is a great Collectible Card Game formerly produced by FPG, Inc. The game is no longer supported, except by fans who have played the games since its inception or since picking up discounted cards.

One problem with picking up discounted cards: if you can't find a starter deck, you don't have the rules. (There are other things you may not have either, but the rules are the most important.)

This is an effort to correct that problem. What follows are a quick set of rules for playing the game. They get more complex as the go along. All that is listed is what you can do, not what you should do. For playing tips, go elsewhere.

GUARDIANS RULESpart 3 of 4(version 0.2)

COMBAT EXAMPLES

Example 1:Chris's Shield:

Super Model (1/4)

Snogwart (8)

Archer (6)

Wraith (8)

Wild Nymph (4)

Bill's Shield

Floyd, the Flying Pig (2)

Ugly Wart Fiend (1)

Baal-a-Gog (12)

Devil Dog (6)

Ice Spirt (5)

Gn'Omish Gnomes (4)

Chris attacks Bill in Swamps. Chris announces that he is playing a command card. Bill decides to cast one of his own.

Bill will lose two creatures if Chris's Spell takes effect, so he casts a Dispel Magic. (Thankfully, he had one.) Chris is unable dispel the Dispel Magic (he could if he had his own Dispel Magic, but in this example, he doesn't), so Vitales fizzles.

Wild Nymph is Vitality 4, +1 OCB. Ugly Wart Fiend is Vitality 1, +2 for Floyd's bonus. Bill has no ranged-attacks. The Fiend cannot receive channeling, and if it could (via a Power Lunch), it could only receive one point of channeling anyway. So the Fiend is beaten. The Nymph card is placed overlapping the Fiend.

Chris next plays the Snogwart against Bill's Devil Dog. The Devil Dog is immune to fire, but the Snogwart does not have a fire-based attack. The Snogwart has a terrain bonus for Dry Heaps, but they're not in the Dry Heaps. Snogwart is 8, +2 for OCB. Devil Dog is 6, +2 for Floyd. Snogwart wins.

Next, Chris plays the Wraith and Bill plays the Ice Spirit. The Wraith can receive up to 16 points of channeling, but the Ice Spirit is immune to Undead and the Wraith is Undead.Wraith is 8 (but does no damage). Ice Spirit is 5, +2 OCB, +2 for Floyd. Ice Spirit has 9 to the Wraith's 8. Chris has two options: channel to the Wraith to raise its Vitality (though no damage will be done) or use the Archer, which will also raise the Wraith's Vitality, but won't do enough damage to kill the Ice Spirit. The other choice is to do nothing, let the Wraith die and then, if he has a secondary attacker, kill the Ice Spirit later.

Chris decides to spend a stone. For this example, his Guardian is Tes Let who has CMP 7, so spending one stone will add 7 points of Vitality to the Wraith for a total of 15. Both creatures survive, but the Wraith is rotated 180 degrees to show that no damage has occurred to the Ice Spirit.

Each player has two creatures left, though neither knows how many the opponent has. Chris has put down 20 points of Vitality. Bill has put down 14.

Bill knows that there are only 10 points left to fight, his Baal-a-Gog is in good shape. And if he has saves the Gnomes, they'll be enough to kill that miserable Wraith. Gnomes could also kill the Snogwart or Wild Nymph as well, but the Wraith is the deadliest of the creatures he's seen so far. But if he Chris has more than one creature, then Bill doesn't get any secondary attacks.

Chris knows that he has 10 points of stacking, but they're only worth 7 points of fighting. (The Super Model is Vitality 1, but stacks as 4). The Super Model won't be able to kill the Ice Spirit as a secondary attacker (if she gets to attack as one) and will probably only kill something if it's bribeable by Babes. Chris also guesses that Bill has more than one creature left. Why? Because Bill dispelled an AOE attack that would have destroyed only one creature in play, and it has Vitality 1. Seems like a waste of a Dispel Magic for one point. He probably has at least one more small creature.

Chris decides to play the Super Model. Bill plays Baal-a-Gog.

BLAM! Baal-a-Gog is destroyed. Bill could bribe by Gold, if he had one, but he doesn't. So it's gone. Baal-a-Gog goes immediately to the discard pile and cannot be "heal"ed. (On a technical note: Baal-a-Gog is still considered to be "lost" if you have a spell or ability that allows you to reclaim "lost" creatures.)

Chris plays the Archer last. Bill plays the Gn'Omish Gnomes. The Archer has Vitality 6. The Gnomes have Vitality 4, +2 for Floyd. Push. No one wins. Both creatures survive.

Chris announces that he has no more creatures (which is obvious because he has played 30 points). Bill announces the same (he's also played 30 points).

All of Chris's creatures survived. Total vitality is 30. Bill has Ice Spirit and Gn'Omish Gnomes for a total vitality of 9. Bill has to retreat (and hopefully reinforce quickly!).

Example 2:I pulled some random cards out of a starter pack for this. I want to illustrate what happens when the cards are played in different orders.

Brian announces he's done. Matt still has the Rock Spirit, which is a 5 with an OCB of 1. That's enough to kill any of Brian's creatures (note that the Wood Nymph's terrain bonus goes away as does the Ice Ogre's and Sun Spirit's off-color bonuses). Matt attacks the Sun Spirit.

Brian has Wood Nymph and Ice Ogre for 17. Matt has the Rock Spirit for 5. Matt retreats.

Example 2b: same as above, but with bribery.

If the Ice Ogre had been bribed away, the Gorgal Skag would have survived. The end result is Wood Nymph for 8 vs Rock Spirit and Gorgal Skag for 9. Brian has to retreat; Matt gets (or keeps) the space.

Rock Spirit is not powerful enough to beat Sun Spirit (4 + 5 vs 12) unless you can make it a channel receiver and then channel to it. However, the Amber Well's special ability will let the Rock Spirit beat the Ice Ogre (8 + 5 vs 9). Rock Spirit beats Ice Ogre.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Guardians is a great Collectible Card Game formerly produced by FPG, Inc. The game is no longer supported, except by fans who have played the games since its inception or since picking up discounted cards.

One problem with picking up discounted cards: if you can't find a starter deck, you don't have the rules. (There are other things you may not have either, but the rules are the most important.)

This is an effort to correct that problem. What follows are a quick set of rules for playing the game. They get more complex as the go along. All that is listed is what you *can* do, not what you *should* do. For playing tips, go elsewhere.

GUARDIANS RULESpart 2 of 4(version 0.2)

COMBAT

This is the heart of Guardians: two Shields going to combat.

Pick up all the cards under your shield into your Combat Hand. You may also pick up all your double-bordered cards from your Storage Hand. You CANNOT take any of your creatures out of your Creature Pen. That's the reason that they're kept under the Guardian, so you can't pick them up by accident. (Sure, it was an "accident".)

The attacker declares first if he is playing a command card. (Not which card, just whether or not one will be played.)

A command card is a sort of spell that takes place before you begin combat. It might be one of the following: a Spell (like Ice Storm or Vitales Dark Cloud) that states that it must be used as a Command Card, a Hand Magic Item (like Medallion of Skyphos from Drifters Nexus) that states it must be used as a Command Card, or a creature that has a command ability.

A command ability differs from a regular ability in that it is preceded by a 'C' with a line through it. Also, the spell portion of the text box will be in italics.

After the attacker declares whether or not to play one, the defender declares whether he will use one. They are then revealed together.

You may each only play one command card.

If the two cards are contradictory, the one with the lower Up Number is dispelled. If they have the same Up Number, they're both dispelled.

Ex. 2: Visionary vs Seer.Both require that the opponent state something about their creature before combat, which is a contradiction. Since both have Vitality 5, both are dispelled.

Ex. 3: Trumpeter vs Baleful Eye.One requires that all Demons and Devils be played first, while the other requires the opponent to announce the size of his creatures. Strangely enough, these can both be done, so neither is dispelled.

Ex. 4: Uras, Overlord of the Mountains vs. Slor, Overlord of the Wastes

They both change the terrain type for the rest of the combat. Slor has the higher Up number, the terrain becomes Dry Heaps. Uras is dispelled. (And it is keeping with the spirit of the game for the "Slor" player to announce, "Ha! I dispelled Uras!")

If the command card forces the two into combat, go to the Primary Attack section, below.

AOE attacks

So what's this AOE attack on some of the cards? AOE stands for "Area of Effect" and it attacks every creature in the opponent's hand (but not the ones that are on the table).

If the Sorcerer casts a 4-point fire AOE, every creature in the opponent's hand that have a Vitality of 4 or less (Note: use the actual Vitality, not the red Stacking number, if there is one.) are discarded. This can conceivably wipe out your entire hand. It might also have no effect at all. Additionally, since this AOE is a "fire" attack, all creature with immunity to fire are immune to this attack.

If the card had a "fear" AOE, creatures immune to fear attacks would be immune to that attack as well.

If the card just says "AOE", there is only one creature that is immune to it -- the Blackthwaite Jumper, which is immune to ALL AOEs.

The final type of AOE attack is, believe it or not, methane, which is only used by two creatures: Cow and Mayor McEvil. The rules for methane are on the Cow card. The creatures are NOT discarded, but are set to the side, out of play, and cannot fight. They can, however, be attacked by the opponent.

PRIMARY ATTACKS

Each player picks one card from their hand and they are laid on the table simultaneously. Now it's time to see who wins.

But first ---

BRIBERY

-- there are a few steps before you get to actually kill each other.

Once both creatures are revealed, both players have the opportunity to bribe his opponent's creature away. There are up to three icons on the bottom of the creature cards: a Beer mug, a Gold coin, and a pair of lips (Babes). If a creature has one or more of these, it can be bribed away by the appropriate bribery card.

Bribery must be the first thing you do in a primary match-up. If you decide not to bribe, you cannot change your mind later when your opponent does something really nasty that you weren't expecting. Likewise, you must give your opponent the opportunity to bribe you -- you can't speed-play into something nasty and tell him its too late.

Standard example:

Sand Lord vs. Swordsman: the Sand Lord has Vitality 11 and is bribeable by Babes, the Swordsman is a 6 that is bribeable by Gold.

Possibility 1: Swordsman bribes Sand Lord with Babes. Sand Lord player may also bribe Swordsman with Gold or leave him unchallenged.

Possibility 2: Sand Lord player bribes Swordsman with Gold. Swordsman can bribe or not, but he can't do anything else.

Possibility 3: Swordsman player doesn't have a Babes, but does have a St. Ballantine's Evocation (which destroys the Knight and its opponent). He quickly plays it as soon as its obvious that he'll lose anyway. Sand Lord player screams "Wait a minute: I was going to bribe you." Swordsman player has to take back the spell. Oops.

Possibility 4: Swordsman player doesn't have a Babes, but does have a St. Ballantine's Evocation (which destroys the Knight and its opponent). He pauses and says, "Are you bribing me?" Sand Lord player says "No". Bombs away. Sand Lord player can't change his mind now -- both creatures are destroyed.

SPELLS

There are Spells that can be cast "at any time". You can cast one of these now, or at any time AFTER bribery. These include St. Ballentine's Evocation, Power Lunch, etc.

DESTRUCTION

If either creature has a "Destroys x" condition where x could be "creatures bribeable by Gold" or "Mortals affected by fear" or whatever, this takes place before anything else.

If the Merchant goes up against the Swordsman, the Swordsman is destroyed and goes immediately to the discard pile. However, if the Swordsman had St. Ballentine's Evocation, it could have be cast prior to the destruction step and thus destroying both creatures. Or the Merchant could have been bribed by Babes to prevent the destruction.

AOE attacks

Not all AOE attacks are command cards, some use their attacks during primary attacks. They are resolved after destruction. Thus, if a Sorcerer goes up against a Merchant, the Sorcerer is destroyed before the AOE can attack. If the Sorcerer bribes the Merchant away, then the AOE goes into effect and the opponent discards creatures.

IMMUNITY

Some creatures are immune to fire or immune to fear. Others are immune to flying creatures, mortals or externals, etc. If one creature is immune to its attacker, turn the attacker around (so that its head is facing the player who played it) to indicate that no damage has been done. The immune creature does damage as normal.

Text Box

Okay, so what about the other stuff. Any other ability, spell, bonus or whatever that is described in the text box goes into effect now.

Off-Color Bonus

A Vitality 6 Swordsman against a Vitality 11 Sand Lord doesn't look too pretty, does it. But it isn't as bad as it looks. White-border creatures (a.k.a. Mortals) get an Off-Color Bonus against brown-border creatures (a.k.a. Elementals) which get an Off-Color Bonus against black-border creatures (a.k.a. Externals) which get an Off-Color Bonus against white-border creatures. Sorta like Rock-Paper-Scissors.

Confused? Hard to remember? It's easy: there's a little oval with a number in it toward the bottom of the card. The oval is the color of the type of creature that it gets a bonus against.

In the example above, the Swordsman gets a +3 bonus against all Elementals, like the Sand Lord. That gives him a Vitality of 9. Now he's only losing by two points -- and we're not done here.

The Sand Lord also has an OCB of 3, but it only applies against black-border Externals, so he stays at 11.

TERRAIN BONUS

Some creatures get a bonus based on the terrain the battle is taking place on. (The Sand Lord is unique in that it also has a penalty for battles on a particular terrain.)

If the battle is taking place on the Dry Heaps, the the Sand Lord gets a big 6-point Vitality boost, but if it's in the Woods, it becomes a 6-point penalty. Obviously, this can tip the balance of the combat.

Can you change the terrain type? Sure, two ways: first, if there's an Overlord command card in play (from Drifters Nexus), the terrain type has been changed already. Second, drop a Hammer of Doom to destroy the terrain. No terrain = no terrain bonus (there is an exception, but let's not get into that now). There are other cards that fiddle with the terrain, but Hammer of Doom is the only one thatdoes it in the middle of a combat.

OTHER MODIFIERS

(These can take place in any order.)

Ranged Attacks:If your fighting in any terrain other than Woods, you can fire a ranged-attack into any primary attack. Only creatures that say"n pt. ranged-attack" (where n is any number) can be used.

To play a ranged-attacker, place the creature next to your primary attacker, but tilt it in toward the battle. The amount of your ranged-attack is added to the Vitality of your primary attacker.

For instance, the Sand Lord and Swordsman are still at it. The Sand Lord is Vitality 11, the Swordsman is Vitality 6 + 3 for his Off-Color Bonus for a total of 9. The combat isn't taking place in Woods (if it were, the Sand Lord would have a penalty of -6, making him Vitality 5 and he'd be beaten!) so an Archer (Vitality 6, 3 pt ranged-attack) can be played. The Swordsman now has a Vitality of 12 and will beat the Sand Lord unless he plays his own ranged attack, a Gold bribery orsomething sneaky.

Ranged attackers can be bribed like regular creatures. They cannot be attacked, not even by your opponent's ranged attackers.

Channleing: This is the biggie. Read it twice or three times. Make sure you understand it because the game depends on it.

Channeling is a way to boost a creature's Vitality temporarily to help it win combats.

Creatures with a green bar in the lower right corner (over the letters "CMP") can automatically receive channeling. Creatures with a red bar cannot receive channeling unless a Spell, command card or some other effect allows them to.

Where does the channeling come from? Two sources: first, those faced-down channellers that you placed under your stronghold during the Draw & Organize phase; second, your Guardian.

To use a channeling creature, just reveal it. It adds the number of CMP to the attacking creature's Vitality. Channeling creatures may be used once per turn on any turn of the game. Some have restrictions on what creature type they may cast to; others allow channeling to certain creatures including ones that normally cannot receive channeling.

To use your Guardian to channel, simply spend a stone. Your creature gains the Guardian's CMP in addition to its Vitality. You may spend multiple stones to channel to a single creature, but if you run out of stones, you can no longer channel.

Limits on channeling: a creature can only receive up to it base Vitality in channeling (effectively doubling it) unless the card says otherwise. For example: if you first play a Power Lunch spell, the Sand Lord can receive up to 11 points of channeling, regardless of terrain and off-color bonuses (or penalties) or ranged-attackers.

A Valkyrie Spirit (CMP 3, channels only to Knights, including those that normally cannot receive channelling) can give its full 3 points to the Swordsman, and a second Vakyrie Spirit can give another 3 points. However, a third one would be ineffective; the Swordsman have received as much as he could handle. Even the Guardian couldn't give him any more.

IS IT OVER YET?

After you've finished adding in bonuses, casting Spells, channeling and placing ranged attackers, figure out which creature has the most Vitality. Place the winning card so that it overlaps the loser to signify victory.

Now you're ready for the next primary attack. Each player picks one more card and does it all over again.

This goes on until either player runs out of cards. At that point, we come to . . .

SECONDARY ATTACKS

When one player has creatures left over, he gets to play secondary attacks. That is, you get to pick off any of your opponent's remaining creatures. You may attack his command card or any ranged attacker, or you may attack a creature that won a primary match-up. Your attacking creature gets all bonuses from its text box, for terrain, for off-color and channelling. THERE ARE NO RANGED ATTACKS during Secondary Attacks.

HOWEVER, remember how the word "temporarily" was used before? Well, it's over now. During second attackers, all Vitality bonuses from the primary attacks are GONE. All text boxes are, in effect, blanked out. (The exception to this are text boxes that specifically apply to secondary attacks or for the duration of the combat.)

While you may attack any creature, if you attack a primary attacker, you get the full Base Vitality of your primary attacker as a bonus to your secondary attacker.

Suppose Chris has remaining creatures, here are his options: - he can attack the pesky command card, but he needs five points of vitality (including bonuses and channeling) to kill it. The Iron Crag Baggler cannot defend itself, except to bribe the creature away.- he can attack the Archer, but he needs seven points of vitality.- he can attack the Fire Walker, in which case he needs only four points because the Devil Dog already did 6 points.- he can kill the Swordsman outright with any creature that attacks, even a Vitality 0 Idiot. This is because the Sand Lord is a 11, and the Swordsman goes back to being a 6. Back you must have *something* to attack him with, it isn't an automatic win.

Suppose Bill had a remaining creature, which is at most five points of Vitality (beacause he's already played 25) - he can attack the Sorceror, but needs nine points to kill it (which is possible if his creature can accept channeling) - he can attack the Devil Dog, but need a full seven points because the Fire Walker didn't do any damage during the primary rounds. That's why the card is rotated 180 degrees as a reminder. However, Bill doesn't have to worry any more about that silly immunity to fire -- like all other bonuses, it goes away!

Question: If the Sand Lord had been Power Lunched and then received channeling to beat the Swordsman, what would his secondary need to kill it?

Answer: the Sand Lord is an 11, the Swordsman is a 6. He needs another six. All bonuses go away including the Sand Lord terrain *penalty*, hadthere been one, including OCB, including the Archer's ranged attack. Any channeling is lost, too.

MUTLIPLE SECONDARY ATTACKERS

Can multiple creatures attack the same creature during secondary attacks?

Absolutely, but its important to note that the "ALL BONUSES GO AWAY" rule applies to your secondaries if you place a "secondary secondary". That is, only the last creature you play gets its OCB, terrain bonus and channeling. All other attackers get only their base Vitality.

Confused? That's normal. Try it out a few times and you'll get thehang of it.

Hopefully, I'll come up with a good sample hand that illustrates allthese points.

Welcome to Tanniker Smith's Guardians Page

The material in this web log is related to the Guardians trading-card game, formerly published by FPG, Inc. in the mid-90s. It was a fun, wacky game that raised the bar for artwork in card games. It was also a great strategy game that was discontinued way too soon.

Much of the material on this website has been previously published by me in other forms: on Usenet, the Yahoo mailing list group or on an older Guardians website that will be going away soon, if it hasn't already.